Jose Ortiz: 2025 Kentucky Derby Jockey Profile

Sometimes, it’s hard to believe Jose Ortiz has only been riding professionally since 2012. He got his first win in Puerto Rico in January of that year, and his first win on the mainland at Aqueduct two months later. His first graded-stakes win came in July of the next year, when he guided Moreno to victory in the Dwyer (G2) at Belmont. His first score at the top level came just a few months later, when he won the Hopeful (G1) at Saratoga with Strong Mandate.

Ortiz’s career has been on a sharp upward trajectory ever since. He got his first mounts in Triple Crown races the next year and, since then, he has been a fixture in the world’s biggest races. He earned the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey in 2017, just five years after that first career win. Every year since 2014, he has been in the top ten for jockey earnings. Ortiz has won six Breeders’ Cup races, and made history when he rode Chad Brown-trained Good Magic to victory in the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, making him the first horse to break his maiden in the year’s biggest juvenile dirt race.

In line with his meteoric rise, Jose Ortiz comes into the 2025 Kentucky Derby with one of the horses near the top of the betting market: Arkansas Derby (G1) winner Sandman.

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Jose Ortiz in the Kentucky Derby

Jose Ortiz has ridden nine horses in the Kentucky Derby, dating back to 2014, when he rode the plucky New York-bred Samraat to a fifth-place finish in the Run for the Roses.

Though Ortiz still seeks his first victory in the Kentucky Derby, he has hit the board twice in Churchill Downs’ signature race. His best finish came in 2018 with Good Magic, who could not reel in eventual Triple Crown winner Justify but chased on to hold second over a rallying Audible. Ortiz was on the board again the next year, though his Bill Mott-trained mount Tacitus was keyed up early, Ortiz settled him down and got him rallying late. They were fourth across the wire, but placed third after Maximum Security was disqualified for interference.

Jose Ortiz in the Triple Crown

Though Jose Ortiz has not won the Kentucky Derby yet, he has won each of the other two jewels of the Triple Crown once.

Ortiz has taken a call in the Preakness Stakes five times, with all of those rides coming between 2017 and 2022. He has only hit the board once, but that was a winning effort with Early Voting. Ortiz had ridden Early Voting to a second-place finish in the Wood Memorial (G2), but instead of taking the Kentucky Derby berth, Brown routed Early Voting to Pimlico. That worked beautifully, as Ortiz got his mount to stalk the pace, open up in the lane, and hold by 1 ¼ lengths over favored Epicenter.

In the Belmont Stakes, Ortiz has won once in nine starts. That victory came in his third try, with Tapwrit in 2017. Moving the Todd Pletcher-trained son of Tapit forward off of a sixth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, Ortiz got Tapwrit to stalk off of favored Irish War Cry, and take over late to beat that pacesetter by two lengths.

The Belmont has been Jose Ortiz’s most successful Triple Crown race so far, as he has finished second three times in the race as well. It hardly comes as a surprise that he does well in the Belmont—Ortiz has ridden regularly in New York throughout his career, and Belmont is a racetrack that rewards familiarity. In 2018, he rode Gronkowski, runner-up behind Justify—meaning he was second behind Justify in two of the three legs of that Triple Crown, on different horses. He rode Tacitus to a runner-up finish behind Sir Winston in the 2019 Belmont, and the filly Nest to a second-place finish behind her Todd Pletcher stablemate Mo Donegal in 2022.

Jose Ortiz and 2025 Kentucky Derby Contender Sandman

Jose Ortiz has only ridden Sandman for three of his eight starts. He rode the gray son of Tapit, trained by Mark Casse, in his six-furlong debut at Churchill Downs in June; that day, Sandman prompted the early pace but weakened to finish a well-beaten fifth as the favorite. Sandman graduated next out at Saratoga with Dylan Davis in the irons.

Ortiz rejoined Sandman in his third career start, the Iroquois (G3) over the one-turn mile at Churchill Downs in September. That was the first time Sandman showed the late-running style for which he has now become known, but that day it was more of a necessity after starting slowly. Sandman kept chasing mildly that day, improving his position to fifth behind Jonathan’s Way at the wire, but he was still ten lengths behind the winner.

Casse gave other riders chances with Sanman in subsequent starts. Brian Hernandez rode him to a third-place finish in the Street Sense (G3) at Churchill Downs in October, his first two-turn start; he rallied from midpack that day. Cristian Torres looked like he was getting the regular call through the winter at Oaklawn: he rode Sandman to an allowance victory, and then to close money finishes in both the Southwest (G3) and the Rebel (G2). In both the Rebel and the Southwest, Sandman rallied well to hit the board, but could not get to more forwardly placed winners.

Casse gave Jose Ortiz another shot with Sandman in the Arkansas Derby, and it worked out as well as it possibly could have. He got a closing trip once again, and it could not have set up better. Speed King and Cornucopian got into a fiery pace duel. Ortiz set Sandman near the rear, really got rolling into the lane when the speed began to tire, hit the front before the furlong pole, and despite lugging out late, Ortiz kept Sandman going to win by a decisive 2 ½-length margin. That earned Sandman his first graded-stakes win, and made him one of the top contenders for the Kentucky Derby.

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